I'm looking for a decent PC-MMORPG, but here's the catch, I don't want to pay a monthly subscription fee... I know WoW gets a lot of love, and I enjoy it myself, but I don't want to have to pay monthly, ad nauseum to play a game. Yes, I know it's possible to build a private WoW server, and I've looked into it, but I'd rather have a game run like it's designed to, not hacked. So, are there any highly recommended games like that? Sword & sorcerry style MMORPGs, but that can run on a LAN vs. subscription service? I saw something called Two Worlds that looked interesting, but didn't give any info about if it can be LANed or if it's subscription.

There are TONS of free-to-play MMORPGs, usually with a "give us real money to get awesome equipment" style setup. Rappelz, Fly4Free, and the like. Most of them are Korean in origin, making some of the text amusing, and they're on the whole considerably less detailed and expansive than WoW, but then again, you're paying infinitely less for them too (nothing and nothing, respectively).

Is Guild Wars multiplayer? My wife really wants to play a game like that, but only if we can play one together, which is the impetus for this. If so, that may be the winner.

We DO have NWN, but she found it too difficult to manage (she's not the most intuitive when it comes to PC games)

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You can't play at the same time on the same account. It's just like any other MMO.

Another free MMO is Dungeon Runners. It doesn't really have much depth, but it's pretty entertaining. It's also entirely free, with a completely optional $5 a month subscription. I'd say it's at least worth a look.

Another plus in Guild Wars' favour is that it's designed to be a very casual MMORPG. There are quests that can theoretically get you to level 20 (the game's level cap) within a few hours after you've started your first character. Not super easy for the first timer, but doable.

There's very little grinding for loot, the only thing that accomplishes is blinging your character out. You can make do quite well with vendor sold equipment, and boss monsters have high chances of dropping high-end gear. All the super-expensive gear and items are desirable only in appearance; they don't perform any differently from the easily attainable equipment.

Guild Wars instead focuses on strategy and skill, as opposed to "my guy iz UbAR cuz i play 24/7". Higher levels and better equipment can effect your performance a bit, but skilled lower level players are quite capable, and are quite likely, able to compete with unskilled higher level players with uber gear.

The best way to think of Guild Wars is comparing it to a CCG, like Magic: the Gathering, or Yu-Gi-Oh, or such. As your character progresses throughout the game, he/she gains access to skills, which are like your card collection. You can only have 8 skills equipped at any given time (freely exchangeable in town), so you can treat that as your "deck". A character is only as good as how well that deck is planned out, and how well the user knows how to take advantage of that deck. It's a very easy system to learn, great for beginners, but like CCGs, it takes a bit of time and effort to actually master.